The Family Gene by Joselin Linder A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance into a Hopeful Future

In her crisply written, deeply informed memoir, “The Family Gene,” Joselin Linder captures the dread and fatigue that accompanies such an odyssey, how it ripples out to engulf multiple branches of a family.
-Star Tribune

Synopsis

A riveting medical mystery about a young woman’s quest to uncover the truth about her likely fatal genetic disorder that opens a window onto the exploding field of genomic medicine

When Joselin Linder was in her twenties her legs suddenly started to swell. After years of misdiagnoses, doctors discovered a deadly blockage in her liver. Struggling to find an explanation for her unusual condition, Joselin compared the medical chart of her father—who had died from a mysterious disease, ten years prior—with that of an uncle who had died under similarly strange circumstances. Delving further into the past, she discovered that her great-grandmother had displayed symptoms similar to hers before her death. Clearly, this was more than a fluke.

Setting out to build a more complete picture of the illness that haunted her family, Joselin approached Dr. Christine Seidman, the head of a group of world-class genetic researchers at Harvard Medical School, for help. Dr. Seidman had been working on her family’s case for twenty years and had finally confirmed that fourteen of Joselin’s relatives carried something called a private mutation—meaning that they were the first known people to experience the baffling symptoms of a brand new genetic mutation. Here, Joselin tells the story of their gene: the lives it claimed and the future of genomic medicine with the potential to save those that remain.

Digging into family records and medical history, conducting interviews with relatives and friends, and reflecting on her own experiences with the Harvard doctor, Joselin pieces together the lineage of this deadly gene to write a gripping and unforgettable exploration of family, history, and love. A compelling chronicle of survival and perseverance, The Family Gene is an important story of a young woman reckoning with her father’s death, her own mortality, and her ethical obligations to herself and those closest to her.

Joselin Linder (Brooklyn, NY) is a writer, filmmaker, and author of The Good Girl's Guide to Living in Sin and The Purity Test. While she's had her share of long-term love affairs, her most recent two-year relationship with Aaron is her favorite thus far. Elena Donovan Mauer (New York, NY) is a writer and editor specializing in relationships. Recently, she embarked on an experiment to have sex with her husband every day for thirty days for a Self magazine article. Her writing has also appeared in Bridal Guide, Modern Bride, Psychology Today, and Lifetime magazine. She coauthored The Good Girl's Guide to Living in Sin.

Critic reviews for The Family Gene
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Star Tribune

Reviewed by Hamilton Cain
on
Mar 24 2017

In her crisply written, deeply informed memoir, “The Family Gene,” Joselin Linder captures the dread and fatigue that accompanies such an odyssey, how it ripples out to engulf multiple branches of a family.